NIA conducts raids in Kerala over suspected links to ISIS terrorists involved in Sri Lanka bombings

Monday, 29 April 2019 00:40 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Hindu: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday inspected the houses of at least four people in North Kerala as part of the fast unfolding international probe into the Easter Day suicide bombings in Sri Lanka.

According to State police, the NIA appeared to have mounted the inspections in private residences in Kasargode and Palakkad after evidence emerged that the targets of their probe had persistently tailed Zahara Hashim on social media.

Officials said law enforcement agencies across the world, including the NIA and the FBI, had been digging up the digital trail left behind by Hashim on social media, which he zealously used as a platform to recruit persons to his global jihadist cause.

Officials knowledgeable of the searches said the NIA appeared loath at this stage to slap any charge on the men possibly due to lack of concrete evidence pointing to their complicity in the attacks.

The NIA’s investigations into the purported affiliates of the now-notorious National Towheeth Jamaat (NTJ), a construct of Hashim to unleash terror, in India were still at a nascent stage.

However, it did not stop NIA agents from swooping on the houses of the potential suspects at Kaliyangad and Nayanmarmoola in Kasargode and Adavumaram and Muthalamad in Palakkad.

Officers said the details of the inspections remained confidential. However, the agency has summoned the persons to their office in Kochi for further questioning. It was not immediately known whether the agency had made any seizures.

Officials said the NIA appeared to be investigating whether there was any correlation between the attacks in Sri Lanka and radical activity in mainland India.

They said coastal States in South India, including Kerala, were not immune from upheavals in the Island nation, given the sizeable Tamil population whose security concerns often dovetail with their counterparts in Sri Lanka.

The NIA also appeared to have factored in reports that Zahran Hashim, the terror mastermind, had travelled widely in India. Hence, his sojourn in the country, itinerary, contacts and places of stay are currently subjects of interest for the agency.

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